UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER NOTES
"Promoting Health Through Physical Activity"

As the air outside gets a little brisk
and we begin looking ahead to the holiday season, many of us are
attending conferences where physical activity will be discussed.The APHA annual meeting and the National Chronic Disease
Prevention and Control conference are just two.It’s important to take advantages to network with colleagues
who are interested in researching and promoting physical activity
from a community perspective, in order to share successes and challenges.If you are not able to attend such conferences, consider
taking advantage of the on-line networking opportunity of our listserv,
the “Physical Activity and Health On-line Network.”For instructions on how to sign on, check out our website
at http://prevention.sph.sc.edu.Best wishes for a productive Fall!

This and past issues of the “USC Prevention Research
Center Notes” are available on our website, http://prevention.sph.sc.edu.If you have an item you’d like to submit, please send it
to Regina Fields, newsletter editor, at RMFields@sc.edu.

VOLUNTEER VACATIONS:The American Hiking Society arranges “Volunteer Vacations,”
which are one or two week vacations spent hiking, camping and “working
on trails in America’s most beautiful wild places.”Trips run from January through November, and include easy
to extremely strenuous levels of difficulty.To see the trips scheduled for 2000 or to register, visit
www.americanhiking.org,
or call (301) 565-6704.

WHAT’S HAPPENING IN WASHINGTON

RECREATION FACILITY ACCESS RULES:The U.S. Access Board, also known as theArchitectural and
Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, is the independent federal
agency whose primary mission is accessibility for people with disabilities.The agency has developed federal rules for newly constructed
or altered outdoor recreation areas, including trails, to ensure
they are accessible to the disabled.The comment period on the rules ends December 8, 1999.For information on how to comment, go to www.access-board.gov
and scroll down to the section on “Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
on Recreation Facilities,” or call the Board at 1-800-872-2253.

RESEARCH NOTES

SCHOOL-BASED CVH PROGRAMS:To determine the best way to deliver school-based cardiovascular
health interventions for children, researchers studied third- and
fourth-graders in eighteen schools in North Carolina.Six schools used the American Heart Association’s school-site
program kits twice a week for eight weeks, in the regular classroom
setting.In six other
schools, children with cardiovascular disease risk factors attended
special nutrition, physical activity, and/or “don’t start smoking”
classes based on their risk factors.The classes were held over 8 weeks.Both interventions used education as well as regular supervised
physical activity.Six
schools received no intervention.Post-test data were collected within two weeks after the
interventions.Researchers
determined that the classroom-based approach yielded a greater benefit
overall.See Harrell,
et al. “A Public Health vs a Risk-Based Intervention to Improve
Cardiovascular Health in Elementary Children: The Cardiovascular
Health in Children Study.”American Journal of Public Health, Oct. 1999, 89(10):1529-1535.

CATCH FOLLOW-UP:The Child and Adolescent Trial for Cardiovascular Health
(CATCH) was conducted from 1991-1994 in nearly 100 schools in four
U.S. states.Students who received the CATCH elementary school lessons on
nutrition and physical activity showed higher levels of vigorous
physical activity and lower levels of fat in their diets.Researchers followed up with the participants from 1995-1998,
and found that while for the most part students maintained these
behaviors, the intervention’s effects had begun to fade.The authors recommend that school interventions should be
continued throughout the school years.See Nader, et al. “Three-Year Maintenance of Improved Diet
and Physical Activity: The CATCH Cohort.”Archives of Pediatric
and Adolescent Medicine, July 1999, 153(7):695-704.

IS THE JURY STILL OUT ON WOMEN AND PA BENEFITS?:Two articles released in August 1999 seemed to show conflicting
results about physical activity and cardiovascular disease in women.One study (Manson et al.) found that women who walked three
or more hours per week at a brisk pace and women who participated
in regular vigorous exercise showed a 30 to 40 percent reduction
in their risk for heart attacks or death from coronary heart disease.Across the board, the more women participated in physical
activity, the lower their risk.However, another study (Sesso et al.) found no association
between physical activity and CVD risk in women, but did find that
women who walked more than 10 blocks a day (about 6 miles a week)
showed a 33% decreased risk.The authors did note that “it may be that walking was reported
more precisely than other kinds of activities,” indicating that
there may have been problems measuring physical activity.

See Manson, et al. “A Prospective Study of Walking
as Compared with Vigorous Exercise in the Prevention of Coronary
Heart Disease in Women.”New England Journal of Medicine, August 26, 1999, 341(9):650-658,
and Sesso et al. “Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Disease Risk
in Middle-aged and Older Women.” American
Journal of Epidemiology, August 1999, 150(4):408-416.

If you would like to comment
on this issue, consider participating in the “Physical Activity
and Public Health On-line Network” listserv.Directions for signing on and posting messages are available
at the USC Prevention Research Center’s website, http://prevention.sph.sc.edu.

REPORTS, SURVEYS, GUIDELINES, RESOURCES

APHA ADVOCATES HANDBOOK: The American
Public Health Association has recently published the “APHA Advocates’
Handbook: A Guide for Effective Public Health Advocacy,” which is
designed to assist public health professionals in individual and
coalition advocacy efforts. It is a guide for influencing the legislative
and regulatory processes; advocating public health at the national,
state, and community levels; working with new partners in coalition;
and utilizing the media. Ordering information can be found at http://www.apha.org
or by calling (301) 893-1894.

PROGRAM EVALUATION FRAMEWORK:The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released
the “Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health.”The framework was developed as a “synthesis of existing evaluation
practices and a standard for further improvement.It supports a practical approach to evaluation that is based
on steps and standards applicable in public health settings.”A copy is available online at http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/rr4811a1.htm,
or through the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing
Office (GPO), Washington, DC 20402-9371; (202) 512-1800.

U.S. OLYMPIC COMMITTEE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES:
The US Olympic Committee (USOC) and the US Conference of Mayors
(USCM) have created “The Mayors’ OlympiKids for Fitness,” a PA promotion
program for 4th, 5th, and 6th graders,
teachers, and Mayors across the country. The program combines academic
and physical activity issues to promote year round physical activity
and enhanced skills in social studies, math, health sciences, etc.
Instructor manuals and student workbooks which incorporate goal
setting activities, training tips and academic quiz questions can
be obtained at a minimal cost or downloaded for free at http://www.usmayors.org/uscm/us_mayor_newspaper/documents/06_28_99/olympikids_other.htm
, or contact Velinda Baker, Director, Education at (719) 578-4892
or velinda.baker@usoc.org.

RESEARCH FUNDING SOURCES:The Center for the Advancement of Health has compiled
a web-based list of research funding sources in the health-related
behavioral and social sciences.The list can be obtained at www.cfah.org.

HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010 TOOLKIT:Developed by the Public Health Foundation, the recently
released “Healthy People 2010 Toolkit: A Field Guide to Health Planning”
provides guidance, technical tools, and resources to develop and
promote successful state-specific Healthy People 2010 plans. It
can also serve as a resource for communities and other entities
embarking on similar health planning endeavors. The kit is available
at http://www.health.gov/healthypeople/state/toolkit.
To order printed copies for $39 (item RM-005), contact the Public
Health Foundation toll-free at (877) 252-1200 or visit the online
bookstore at http://bookstore.phf.org.The kit was developed under contract with the Office of Disease
Prevention and Health Promotion, Office of Public Health and Science,
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

UPCOMING CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS

CHRONIC DISEASE CONFERENCE:The 14th National Conference on Chronic Disease
Prevention and Control (Prevention Successes 2000: Better Health
for All) will be held in Dallas, Texas on November 30 – December
2, 1999. This conference is being sponsored by the CDC, AHA, DHHS,
and ASTCDPD and will be hosted by the Texas Dept. of Health. Highlights
include “The nuts and bolts of building new chronic disease prevention
programs” and “Partnering with African American churches in planning
chronic disease programs.” Speakers include Walking Magazine Editor-at-large Mark Fenton, who will speak about
walkable communities, and David Buchner, MD,MPH, who will discuss
PA and health promotion for older adults. Early registration ends
on October 29.The
conference brochure is available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/conference/archive/,
or by calling 703-538-1798.

HEALTHY PEOPLE 2010 LAUNCH:The Healthy People Consortium, Partnerships for Networked
Consumer Health Information, and the US Department of Health and
Human Services will hold “Partnerships for Health in the New Millennium:
Launching Healthy People 2010” on January 24-28, 2000 in Washington,
D.C.This conference will celebrate the launch of the Nation's prevention
agenda, Healthy People 2010, and is being billed as “the first national
health promotion conference of the new century.”According to conference materials, the program will focus
on four themes: Partnering for Health Improvements, Eliminating
Health Disparities, Increasing Quality and Years of Healthy Life,
and Harnessing Technology for Health.For more on the conference, check out http://www.health.gov/partnerships/,
or call (703) 925-9455.

SOCIAL MARKETING CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:December 1, 1999 is the deadline for abstracts for the
Social Marketing in Public Health 10th Annual Conference.The conference is sponsored by the University of South Florida
College of Public Health, and will be held June 21-24, 2000 in Clearwater
Beach, Florida.Abstracts
must focus on how the principles of social marketing were applied
to a program, project, or research study.For a copy of the abstract submission guidelines, contact Barbara
Nappy at bnappy@hsc.usf.edu,
or call (813) 974-6695.

HEALTH EDUCATION CALL FOR ABSTRACTS:December 1, 1999 is also the deadline for abstracts for
the 18th National Conference on health Education and
Health Promotion and the Society for Public Health Education Mid-year
Scientific Conference, which will be held in Denver, Colorado, May
16-19, 2000.The theme
of the conference, “Health Promotion Excellence in the New Century:
Ascending New Heights,” includes four topic areas: Health Promotion
Policy Advocacy, Workforce Training, Technology, and Healthy People
2010 and Beyond.The Call for Abstracts is available at the website of the Association
of State and Territorial Directors of Health Promotion and Public
Health Education, www.astdhpphe.org,
or by contacting Barbara Hager at (501) 661-2495 or bhager@mail.doh.state.ar.us.

BIKES BELONG COALITION: Members of the
American Bicycle Industry sponsor the Bikes Belong Coalition. Their
goal is putting more people on bikes more often through the implementation
of TEA-21. They seek to assist local organizations, agencies, and
citizens in developing bicycle facilities projects that will be
funded by TEA-21, the Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century.
http://www.bikesbelong.org

USC PREVENTION RESEARCH CENTER UPDATE

PA & PUBLIC HEALTH COURSES:The 1999 version of Physical Activity and Public Health
is history, but faculty and staff of the Prevention Research Center
are making plans for the Year 2000.The Practitioner’s Course on Community Interventions and
the Postgraduate Course on Research Directions and Strategies were
held in September at the Sea Pines Conference Resort on Hilton Head
Island, South Carolina.There
were 26 participants in the practitioner’s course and 24 in the
research course.Participants came from the public and private sectors, national,
state and local levels; they came from all over the U.S., as well
as foreign countries, including Canada, Chile, Switzerland, Barbados,
Brazil, Colombia, and Northern Ireland. There were 31 faculty involved
in the course - the roster looked like an international "Who's
Who" in physical activity research and practice...Ainsworth,
Bauman, Blair, Brownson, Buchner, Dietz, Dunn, Fenton, Haskell,
King, Kriska, Lee, Marcus, Pate, Sallis, Wheeler and Wilkinson.We expect most of the faculty to return for another year, so
check the PRC web site in the coming months for information about
next year's courses.

NEW PROJECTS:The USC PRC has been awarded five Special Interest Project
(SIP) grants from the CDC.SIPs are only available to CDC-funded Prevention Research
Centers.Three of the
new SIP projects are the Women=s Cardiovascular Health Network, the
Development of a Community-based Evaluation Support Network, and
the Prevention Centers Tobacco Network.

A fourth project, led
by Dr. Barbara Ainsworth, is the “BRFSS Module to Assess Community
Indicators that Promote Physical Activity.”This project will develop, administer, and evaluate a Behavioral
Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) module to assess community
indicators as mediators of physical activity (PA) behavior and monitor
trends in community supports for PA over time.The module will be validated using a Geographic Information
System (GIS) database of environmental landscape features supporting
PA and compared with responses from the BRFSS modules about individual
PA behavior.

The fifth project, led
by Dr. Deborah Parra-Medina, is the “Heart Healthy and Ethnically
Relevant Tools Project.”This
project will establish and implement a system for redesigning effective
dietary and physical activity counseling tools to be culturally
relevant to financially disadvantaged African American women in
urban and rural South Carolina.

We will keep you updated
on these and other projects in future issues of the newsletter.